Oil is a major seed storage compound that has a great economic value for human nutrition, animal feed, and industrial applications.
Despite a detailed understanding of many aspects of the biosynthesis of fatty acid and storage lipid, and isolation of many genes in the pathways, the control mechanism for fatty acid biosynthesis and lipid accumulation in seed is not well understood.
Plant breeding studies have demonstrated that seed oil content can be increased significantly by selection. However, plant breeding procedures require a significant investment of time. Further, until a plant having the desired seed oil content is obtained, it cannot be known whether the selected plant will exhibit sufficient vigor. Thus, a need exists for convenient and predictable methods for producing plants that have a desired level of seed oil content.